Monday, April 19, 2010

Crazy on the Outside Blu-ray Review

Crazy on the Outside comes to Blu-ray with a 1080p AVC/MPEG-4 video presentation. The movie looks quite good in high-definition, although I do admit certain aspects kept me a bit less impressed. The movie certainly looks like a new release and is free of any technical issues with the transfer.

The level of detail and clarity is usually quite good if not impressive. Colors are generally quite pleasing, although not as rich as I would have hoped. There are certain scenes in which colors just look a bit murkier, but they never look bad.

The Blu-ray includes a DVD copy of the film which I used to compare the two versions. Not surprising, the Blu-ray release is a clear improvement in every aspect. The DVD can look quite good at times, but left much more to be desired.

The movie never reaches reference level qualities, but I don’t have too much to complain about. The colors are the only real issue which I felt worth mentioning. They are good but do leave a bit to be desired at times. I think most viewers will find themselves very pleased by Crazy on the Outside in high-definition. 8/10.

The Audio

An English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is the only audio option included. Optional subtitles include English and Spanish.

The film being a comedy, it would likely be a more front heavy experience. This is indeed the case with Crazy on the Outside, the film is very dialogue driven and it shows. Despite being front heavy, I find myself very pleased by the audio as a whole.

The film is one which just doesn’t call for any significant moments of surround use. Surround use moments are present though and used quite nicely. The surround speakers feature traveling effects occasionally as well as environment noises pertaining to the specific scene.

Overall I found the mix to be very satisfying and thought the clarity was great. The movie will make for demo material, but it certainly works with the elements that it has. I am very pleased by the DTS-HD Master Audio mix present on this release. 7.5/10.

The Extras

Disc 1:

Inside Crazy on the Outside (2:14) (HD)This is a very quick behind-the-scenes look of the film. There is actually an impressive amount of behind-the-scenes footage with the short runtime. The cast talks about working on the movie with Tim Allen.

There are very few extras on this release, but Fox has included a bonus DVD and Digital Copy of the film to add a bit more value to the release though. While this movie is definitely not a film for kids, it is still great to see more combo pack releases on Blu-ray. 5/10.

The Movie

Crazy on the Outside is another of those movies which I had no idea about until the Blu-ray release was announced. I wasn’t surprised I missed this one as it received a very small theatrical release and very little promotion in comparison to most Fox releases.

The cast is what had me most interested, much more than reading it was directed by Tim Allen. The cast includes Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Jeanne Tripplehorn, J.K. Simmons, Kelsey Grammer, Julie Bowen and Ray Liotta. Clearly a lot of talent behind-the-project, which was surprising that it didn’t receive much more buzz.

Going into the movie I really had no expectations. I never heard any word of mouth about the film to even get an expectation. I do have to say I liked a lot about the movie, but I also found plenty of things which I didn’t like about the movie.

The movie’s cast brings a lot to love about the movie, the timing is great on many of the jokes and the jokes in general are very clever. That being said there are also quite a few stupid moments throughout, which I could see what they were trying to do but just didn’t work.

The mixed humor is something I would have to say is what is most disappointing about the movie. The film is intentionally dumb, featuring a crazy but loving family and crazy situations. That being said, the moments in which the dumb humor works and dumb humor doesn’t work is clear. There is a difference between funny dumb and just stupid dumb, if that makes sense.

The film features a very predictable story which does require you to suspense reality, but there’s nothing wrong with that. The movie is far from great and there are many issues which I could point out, but I still think the film manages to stay quite enjoyable as a whole. Perhaps I am being a bit lenient with the score, but I found it enjoyable despite sometimes feeling more like a sitcom special rather than a feature film. 6/10.

Blu-news Summary

Crazy on the Outside is an enjoyable but very flawed comedy with a good high-def presentation. The extras on this release are decent, but I was most pleased by the additional DVD and Digital Copy included. Overall this release is ‘Worth A Look.’

Please Note: The release is available exclusively at Target stores. There is no word how long the title will be available exclusively at Target, but can be found for 19.99-24.99 on Blu-ray combo pack.